1978- shower valve came out in my hand?

charlie tuna · 08-12-2006, 07:55 AM

hi all,
i'm a new airstream owner and reworking a 78 -31' airstream. this trailer has been sitting in the hot florida sun for about 12 years. the first time i applied city water -- nothing happened??? then i tried the kitchen sink and found the single lever faucet frozen! then i moved to the shower faucet and tried turning the handle only to have the entire shaft blow out in my hand from the city pressure!!! i managed to push it back down long enough for my wife to shut the city water off. now the question-- does this mean i'm going to have to replace the entire valve? the assembly that came out has the valve washers at different locations on it's shaft. is this supposed to come out if turned??? for valve washer replacement??? i plan on replacing the vanity and kitchen faucet, but i dread the thought of removing the tube to get to the shower deverter valve for replacement... thanks, tuna

charlie tuna · 08-12-2006, 10:08 AM

was talking to my airstream dealer over the phone about ordering an a/c unit and mentioned the problem with the valve stem coming out in my hand. think he solved the problem --- he told me "there is a small retainer ring that holds the assembly in place" and at that point i remember finding a small ring in the bottom of the tub after the valve came loose. couldn't figure where it came from????

Condoluminum · 08-12-2006, 02:17 PM

Most of the shower mix valves use a cartridge that might be replaceable.. Search on shower mix valve.. I think yours is too old for Moen.

Brass retaining ring should have been behind a plastic trim piece and knob of some sort... Those might also help identify the unit.. Be aware there are some valves that Airstream said you could not get replacement cartridge for, but there are indeed replacements available from other sources...

We switched vanity faucets and kitchen faucets to single lever types from local hardware store, replaced shower cartridge to avoid unpleasant chore of replacing entire valve body in small space...

John McG

charlie tuna · 08-12-2006, 04:51 PM

thanks for the info john................. charlie

charlie tuna · 08-26-2006, 09:02 AM

just a follow up in case someone refers to this articale in the future. here what i found. the shower assembly that came out in my hand is the mixer valve and can be purchased as one piece or you can clean it up and buy a kit that has the four "O" rings and two different retainer clips in each kit. not knowing that the kitchen sink and bathroom sink use the same assembly, it took two trips to the hardware store to solve all the valve problems. after fixing the kitchen sink valve assembly we noticed water weeping from the base of the faucet neck onto the backside of the counter top. this was easily fixed by another trip to the hardware store for two $.36 "O" rings. take the top off the sink handle--then the handle by removing the phillips screw- then use a channel locks to loosen and remove the brass retaining ring on top of the faucet shaft. lift up the faucet neck while turning back and forth --until it comes free. remove the two "O" rings from the faucet's stationary shaft and bring the to the hardware store for proper sizing. reverse assembly. nice that all three take the same kits............ tuna